Variax 600 Buzzing Problem

Hi can anyone help, i have a Variax 600 playing through a Flextone 3 1x12, when i plug the guitar in i get a loud buzzing noise from the amp and the guitar is impossible to play, i get the same problem regardless of weather i use the foot switch power supply or batteries, however if i leave everything switched on and come back in half an hour or so the problem goes away and the guitar works fine! would appreciate any help.

The original piezos were spring loaded up against the strings on my Variax 500. The Ghost Piezos that I now have on it are potted in the plastic bridge pieces. I don't know how the piezos in the 700 were loaded against the strings - did not ever see a 700 up close. IMO the grounding through the bridge / strings is a bad design that causes lots of problems. That is your signal path!

surely over time the contact point of the string with the saddle deteriorates, it forms a kind of slight irregular groove, which can facilitate the premature breaking of the strings in that point, I do not know specifically how this aspect can affect also the proper functioning of the piezo, but it may be that changing angle of insertion of the saddle you can further improve the quality of the ground contact, who knows..

when a similar problem happened with the sixth string of my 700, I cleaned everything well and while I was there, I also turned the saddle 180 degrees (following a good tip given by the forum member "stumblinman"), I do not know how much the latter thing had a positive effect on the final result, but since I finished doing all the things I have described, the problem disappeared and has not come back yet..

My thick strings were breaking a lot until I adjusted the action to be lower.

+1 to Nico! Another thing you can do (but costly) is to replace the piezo with graphteck. Your sound will become louder, wider, brighter and more vivid. Keep that in mind for a future purchase.

Could you please give more information about Variax upgrade with new piezo. My V700 work perfect. But I look the way to upgrade it. What model of piezo can be used for Variax 700? May be you have links for manuals? Video "before" and "after" upgrade?

Could you please give more information about Variax upgrade with new piezo. My V700 work perfect. But I look the way to upgrade it. What model of piezo can be used for Variax 700? May be you have links for manuals? Video "before" and "after" upgrade?

Graphtech FAQ states to use PN-8000-00 Ghost saddles.

Basically Graphtech Ghosts are a lot better quality than the LR Baggs piezos in old Variaxes. Switching them will do 2 main things:

1) It makes the models sound much better in quality

2) eliminates the ground problem forever if you wire it right

Another benefit is they use String Saver saddles with piezos in them so it should help reduce string breakage.

Thank you. Point number 1) is precise what I was looking for. There is new challenge for me because I never opened my Variax. But I try to learn what I need to done this.
What kind of strings you use for Variax? Do you feel difference here?

Thank you. Point number 1) is precise what I was looking for. There is new challenge for me because I never opened my Variax. But I try to learn what I need to done this.
What kind of strings you use for Variax? Do you feel difference here?

I switched to elixir polywebs 10's 1.5 months ago and am probably sticking to it for the following reasons:

-I kill strings within less than a week

-Variax sounds 2-3 times worse with dead strings than a regular guitar with dead strings

-Elixirs sound exactly the same as a recording I took of them on day 1 after the 1.5 months

Whatever strings works best for you though, you should keep. I simply use Elixirs because I have a serious problem with rusting and making strings dead within a few days, just something I can't deal with.